GPS for my car rental

Chances are your GPS contains only a US or a North America map. If so, you'll have to buy a Europe map. Check Tom Tom's website for info about what yours covers and how to get the Europe map. Should cost under $100, and there may be a AAA discount.

It's well worth getting the Europe map and bringing your GPS with you. It should plug into the rental's lighter as it does in your car. It will help you find your way (along with a good map you should also bring or get there) and over time will save you money over the GPS the rental car company may offer.

As Dick says , you need the European maps . There is another consideration - You will likely be more comfortable using your own unit since you are already familiar with its settings and controls , rather than trying to figure out the vagaries of a set up with which you are unfamiliar . I always bring my own , once or twice I struggled with one that was already in the car , gave up , and pulled out my own . A lot easier way to skin a cat

Another advantage of bringing your own GPS unit, besides knowing how to operate it, is that you can program in your known destinations in advance. This saves lots of time and hassle once you're there. At the end of a day, it's a great luxury to just pull up your next hotel and head right there, without having to figure out how to put it in the GPS.

You can also use your phone for driving directions if you use google maps. Google Maps has a new feature to download offline. you will not be able to get walking directions but driving directions works perfect. We used this method for 10 days in Ireland/Northern Ireland last year

I have a garmin gps, it is like the $100 version and I took it with me to Ireland last week and it was great. It did not have Ireland maps and garmin sells the euro maps for around 70 bucks. I checked thru ebay and bought the Ireland map for around $15. It came on a mini disk that my gps had slot for. the map worked great over there and the gps was a real advantage. I would check on ebay and see about the uk/Ireland add on map. it is somewhat a leap of faith as you wont really know if it works over there or not but I had no problem with the map I purchased an obviously the price was about what two days of a rental gps would be. my guess is tom tom maps are available on ebay as well. I just plugged in the gps and attached it to the windshield of my tiny car! This is a nice site/app for checking your routes and planning, I used it in Scotland also. https://www.theaa.ie

Ask the rental company if there is any chance that the car you are renting will have built in one. We brought our own last year and had the Ireland card and it turns out that our rental had a built one so we never used ours.